A human hip joint connects a femur (sometimes referred to as a thigh bone) to an acetabulum (sometimes referred to as a hip socket) of the pelvis. Hip joints support the weight of a human body, and are important for retaining balance.
Some types of injury, disease, or degeneration can produce pain and/or restricted motion in a hip joint. When severely damaged, in one treatment option, the natural hip joint can be surgically replaced with a prosthetic hip joint in a procedure known as total joint arthroplasty (TJA). The prosthetic joint generally has two parts, an acetabular prosthesis and a femoral prosthesis, which are implanted into a patient's pelvis and femur, respectively.
During implantation, the acetabular and femoral prosthesis components are secured to their adjacent bone. For example, surgeons often use bone cement to position a femoral prosthesis component in a patient's femoral intramedullary canal. Alternatively or additionally, the femoral prosthesis component may include a porous outer coating that allows for bone ingrowth into the prosthesis components, so that the components can join with the bone over time in a cementless interface.
Many patients successfully treated with TJA return to active lifestyles. However, in some patients, the prosthetic joint can fail, requiring further medical intervention, often referred to as a revision procedure, to remove and replace the prosthesis components. Removal of firmly implanted prosthetic joint components can be difficult.